Zombie
by ShunandAce
Summary: Rated for character injury and reference to mental illness. Ace suffers from PTSD after being injured in a battle with Mylene and Shadow. Slight AcexMira. One-shot songfic. R&R


**Okay so...I feel kind of bad about writing a new fic while I'm in the middle of All's Fair in Love and War...but this idea just wouldn't stop hitting me over the head with a metal baseball bat! Honest.**

**So anyway it's ANOTHER songfic...sick of em yet? The song is Zombie by The Cranberries, an awesome song by an awesome band...you should listen to it, I'm sure you won't regret it. :)**

**Basically, after being in the resistance for so long and getting seriously injured/seeing his friends hurt in a battle, Ace suffers from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). The song is about war and to me, it seems to be about PTSD but I'm not completely sure. Whatever, it's a cool song. xD**

**I did my homework on PTSD and tried to make it accurate. Please tell me if you spotted anything wrong.**

_**Another head hangs lowly,  
><strong>__**Child is slowly taken.  
><strong>__**And the violence caused such silence,  
><strong>__**Who are we mistaken?**_

No one would have thought he would be the one to crack.  
>He had always been a strong, cold, stoic. Someone that bore a large burden, that often felt that he was in over his head, but he persisted, and he did it with style. He never showed weakness. He didn't seem to be bothered by violence or blood, and his cool composure never broke, no matter what.<br>If asked to describe him, most would say that he was an egotistical, hard-headed, somewhat anti-social and independent person.  
>Yes, it was a surprise to everyone, even under the circumstances.<p>

It had been during a surprise raid by the Vexos that his whole world had come crashing down...

_Shadow and Mylene had Ace cornered just outside the trawler. He and Percival were worn out, and he had only one ability card left..  
>"Ability activate! Misty Shadow!"<em>

_**Hades and Elico power level reduced to base level.**_

_Percival was shrouded in a cloud of dark mist, beginning to fade. Mylene scoffed._

_"You weakling. You are no match for us! Ability activate! Gaia Luze!_

_**All Bakugan reduced to base power level. Percival at 450Gs.**__**Hades and Elico combined at 900Gs.**_

_"No!" Ace groaned, dropping to his knees. "Percival!"  
>Percival returned to ball form and dropped to the ground before his partner. Mylene grinned wickedly. "Enough of this! Elico, destroy him!"<br>Elico, who was still in his full form, began to charge up his power. He glowed a light blue as he raised his palms towards Ace. "Now! Hurry up!" Mylene spat._

_Ace heard a scream and froze, looking around for the source. He then spotted Mira; she had just lost to Gus and Volt. He saw her fall back as a beam of light hit her, and then she lay still. He immediately jumped to his feet, only to be thrown back by a strong force from the side. He heard several sharp cracks from his own bones as the blow knocked him into the face of the small cliff he had been backed against. The sharp ridges of the rock pierced his skin and scalp. He barely had the breath to cry out as he was hit again. It felt like..fire, but worse, with the force of a small boulder._

_He tasted blood. He held his arm in front of his face in a reflexive move to shield himself. What a horrible mistake that was. He felt his right arm being slammed into with what felt like hundreds of knives, felt the bones snapping and the skin tearing. And then the pain was just too much to bear. He had crumbled to the ground at this point, laying in a pool of his own blood._

_**But you see, it's not me, it's not my family.  
><strong>__**In your head, in your head they are fighting,  
><strong>__**With their tanks and their bombs,  
><strong>__**And their bombs, and their guns.  
><strong>__**In your head, in your head, they are crying..**_

_Elico finally returned to ball form, ceasing torturing Ace. A pleased Mylene caught him and turned away. "Come, Shadow. Let's get out of here."_

_Shadow stared at the broken boy on the ground for a moment in utter shock. He knew that Mylene took brawling seriously, but he'd never thought her to be so..murderous. He almost felt pity for the child. Almost. After a moment, he turned to follow Mylene, a little hesitantly. "Yeah." The two left swiftly, leaving their victim to die._

_Ace shut his eyes tightly, trying to stop crying. Even now, he saw it as a weakness that he would not show..he heard shouts and heavy footfalls, and the sound of some kind of jet as the Vexos retreated._

_He lay still, unable to move, not wanting to. He couldn't see. He began to hear voices. Low voices, almost whispers. Telling him that it was time to go now. That he was going to die, just like his friends. He shivered and tried to move, but he couldn't. His breath hitched and then started to slow. His heart beat seemed to only come every few seconds. He felt himself drifting in and out of consciousness..._

_Mira shakily got up. She was sore, but otherwise unscathed. She picked up Wilda carefully and looked around. The other battles had ended. Shun and Dan had teamed up and beaten Lync and Spectra, surprisingly, as the Vexos were playing dirty, and it seemed they had gained small injuries in the process. Marucho had been helping her, but he lost before she had. He was nursing a small wound to the leg. Baron was supposed to be helping Ace, but he and Nemus had also lost quickly. He seemed unharmed, so she stepped past him. Ace was nowhere in sight. She looked around, beginning to panic.  
>The battle was over..so where was he? Her eyes landed on the cliff face far East. There was something laying there..she couldn't quite make it out. It was dark, and there was red around it.<br>Then it hit her. "ACE!" She cried out, running as fast as her legs could carry her towards the figure. The others looked up and, following her gaze, also spotted their friend sprawled on the ground. They quickly got to their feet and ran towards him._

_Shun got there first, of course. He knelt by Ace and looked him over. The poor boy looked completely crushed..one of his arms was so badly torn up it was hard to tell what it was at first. The whole backside of his body was bloody and broken, with sharp pieces of the rock embedded in his skin in places. His clothes were torn and bloody, and his left knee seemed to have shifted completely out of place, so the knee cap was moved towards the side of his leg, and it was bent at an awkward angle._

_Mira caught up and dropped to her knees on his other side, eyes wide with shock and tears forming. "I-is he.." She stopped, unable to say it._

_Shun felt Ace's neck for a pulse. "He's alive, barely. We need to get him to a hospital."_

_Dan, Baron and Marucho joined them, all silent, watching worriedly._

_Shun very slowly gathered Ace up in his arms, trying not to move his bones around too much. He carried his friend back to the trawler and lay him on the floor on several towels. Dan picked Percival up off the ground and followed with the others._

_Mira stayed by Ace as they drove as close to the nearest city as they could. She felt tears streaming down her face as she watched his chest ever-so-slowly rise and fall, hoping to God that it wasn't too late. Shun also knelt by him the whole time. He placed a hand on Mira's shoulder slowly. "He'll be okay. He's strong."_

_**In your head, in your head,  
><strong>__**Zombie, zombie, zombie,  
><strong>__**Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,  
><strong>__**In your head,  
><strong>__**Zombie, zombie, zombie?  
><strong>__**Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, dou, dou, dou, dou, dou...**_

_**Another mother's breakin',  
><strong>__**Heart is taking over.  
><strong>__**When the vi'lence causes silence,  
><strong>__**We must be mistaken.**_

After that horrific day, Ace was just never the same. He was jumpy, hypervigilant. He had reoccuring nightmares, horrible dreams about having a thousand knives plunged into his body, being slammed into a solid wall by heavy weight..and he kept seeing Mira falling back, blood surrounding her as she lay on the ground, dead. He would often wake himself with his own screams, to find his whole body to be sore and throbbing.

At least once a day he had flashbacks of those last minutes where he was lying on the ground in his own blood, thinking his friends were dead and all was lost..he heard whisperings now and then, voices in his head, and that always set him into a panic attack. Other things, bright lights, the sound of jets or helicopters, rushing water, loud footsteps..it all brought him back.

Usually after a few minutes he would slowly relax again, for Mira would rub his back and whisper to him that it was all just a dream, promise that he was fine and nothing would hurt him.  
>But almost nothing could calm him down when he started to shake and whimper. If it became too much, his eyes would roll back in his head and he would collapse, then have to be rushed to the hospital.<p>

Ace detached himself from everyone and every thing. He became even more quiet and anti-social. He avoided the others, hiding in his room for the most part, and stopped eating - except when Mira literally forced the food into his mouth. He tried not to think about that day, but it soon became _all _he thought about.

_**It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen.  
><strong>__**In your head, in your head they're still fighting,  
><strong>__**With their tanks and their bombs,  
><strong>__**And their bombs, and their guns.  
><strong>__**In your head, in your head they are dying...**_

For the most part, his injuries healed. But some lasted. His left leg was never the same. He eventually had to wear a tight metal brace on it so that he could walk properly. His right arm was so completely crushed, he also required a brace on that, and he could no longer move any part of that arm. Scars covered every inch of his body, reminders of the ordeal.

Shun swore to pay Mylene back for it, and so he did, later on. Ace didn't care; he was numb to it all.  
>The only people he let near him were Mira and Shun, he was irritable and unapproachable towards everyone else.<br>No one else mattered.

The doctors diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder. They said it could last months, or years.

Mira watched him deteriorate further day after day. It hurt her to see him in pain, and more so that she could do nothing about it. Around her, he tried to act normal; forcing a smirk every once in a while and attempting to carry on a conversation, but she could feel that he was just not the same. He wasn't the Ace she knew and loved. He was just..empty. Numb. The only time he showed real emotion was when he underwent a panic attack due to nightmares, flashbacks or certain sounds and sights that reminded him of the fight with Mylene and Shadow.

She could tell that Ace felt weak for breaking like that. After all, everyone undergoes trials and pain. It wasn't his fault, but he was sure that he could have done something to help it. He never voiced this, however, in fact, he never talked about anything relating to his injuries...

No, he was no longer her Ace. He was a zombie, trapped in the past. But she had to learn to accept that, and love him the way he was.  
>Maybe someday he would learn to forget.<p>

_**In your head, in your head,  
><strong>__**Zombie, zombie, zombie,  
><strong>__**Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,  
><strong>__**In your head,  
><strong>__**Zombie, zombie, zombie?  
><strong>__**Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh,  
><strong>__**Oh, oh, oh, oh, hey, oh, ya, ya-a...**_

**Hm... I'm not too happy with how this turned out, just because I feel like it was rather poorly written..and I am not good with battle/fight scenes, at all. XD**

**The thought to write this just randomly occured to me while I was listening to the song..I didn't plan it out as much as I could have.**

**A rather sad ending, I know. But hey, I was going to make him kill himself in the end...but I decided this was better. As you can see, slight AcexMira here. It's more of a one-sided crush, really, as the idea is that Ace doesn't feel emotions normally.**

**I apologize if it seemed to go too fast or slow or if I majorly messed up certain parts, I'm tired..I worked on this from one to five am and haven't gotten ANY sleep in weeks. Literally. I just walk around at night or play basketball. x.x**

**Dan: So why don't you just sleep?**

**Me: It's complicated. =.=**

**Shun: *rolls eyes ShunandAce doesn't own Bakugan, or the song.**

**Me: As much as I wish I did. Particularly the ninja. ;)**

**Shun: o.o**


End file.
